


Gunshot

by Moonlightmusic



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 3
Genre: Gen, In the Capital Wasteland, Just buds being buds, Some sadness and angst too
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-03
Updated: 2017-06-03
Packaged: 2018-11-08 07:45:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11077134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moonlightmusic/pseuds/Moonlightmusic
Summary: With a gunshot filling his ears and a silent Valerie-Robin, Butch wants to know what happened inside the broken building.





	Gunshot

The sun had just gone down as day turned to night, and Valerie-Robin was standing in the doorway of a broken home, tapping her fingers along the side. She constantly checked her pip-boy, looking at the time and growing irritated by the passing minute. He was late, twenty minutes late to be exact. To some that wouldn’t be a problem, anything can cause traveling trouble in the Capital Wasteland, but she didn’t care. She wanted her caps, and she wanted them now.

Faint footsteps entered her ear causing her to look around, only to frown when she saw no one. She checked her pip-boy again, twenty-three minutes late. This man sure knew how to get on her dwindling nerves, but he paid well and that was all that mattered to her. It was then when she felt a tap on her shoulder, causing her to jump and ghost her hand around her gun as she quickly turned. She let out a sigh of both annoyance and relief when she saw it was him.

“Don’t fucking scare me like that Rodney,” she yelled at him. “What would’ve you done if I shot you?” There was a fire in her eyes, but not that of passion. No, it was straight up anger. If her months on the outside had taught her anything, she had to be prepared for everything. Why anyone would deliberately sneak up on someone was beyond her.

“I’m sorry,” he stammered, taking a step back as he put his hands up.  “I didn’t mean to.” He dropped his bag to the ground, running his fingers through his short brown hair. Stepping past her, he leaned against the counter, pulling a lighter and cigarette pack from his jacket pocket. He offered her one, which she declined and then lit his own.

Rolling her eyes, she walked over towards him. “You know why I’m here,” she reminded him. “Just give me my shit so I can leave.” Tapping her nails on the counter, she continued to eye him as he smoked. Finally he looked up at her, removing it from his lips.

“Are you sure you don’t want a drag?”

Her tapping stopped as she looked at him, confused. “What?” she breathed, shaking her head. “Stop changing the subject. Just give me my damn caps already.” Her voice was demanded, as well as her face. This is not how she wanted to spend her evening, in fact she wanted to sleep for hours on end, or at least just rest. This was cutting into that time.

With an awkward cough, he took one final drag before putting his cigarette out on the table. He brought his hazel gaze over to her only to be met with her cold blue ones. “Yeah…. About that…. We have a little problem.”

A snarl formed on her lips, her eyes turned to slits. “What do you mean ‘little problem,’” she demanded to know as she crossed her arms. Her patience was wearing thin, practically nonsexist. This was shit she didn’t need to deal with, not now. “Come on! Fucking tell me!”

Fixing his posture, he finally broke their gaze, bringing it to the ground. With a sigh, he looked back up at her. “Look, I won’t beat around the dead bush. I don’t have them.” Her eyes went wide at the statement for a moment, stomping over towards him. She tightly grabbed him by the front of his tattered jacket.

“You don’t have it? What do you mean you don’t have it?” she barked at him. They were close enough that her breath was hot on his face, some spit had landed on him as well. He moved his hand up to wipe it away, as well as push against her.

"Let go of me,” he told her, yet she didn’t listen. In fact, all she did was tighten her grip on him. Pulling him closer to her face, she showed her teeth in the form of a snarl.

“Answer me dickwad!” she demanded, but still got nothing. Instead, he continued to push against her, trying to free himself from her harsh grip. It was then when she finally dropped him to the ground, him hitting it with a loud thud. He tried to sit up, pushing his elbows on the dirty wooded floor, but her boot on his stomach forced him back down. “Tell me why.”

Looking up at her, his face showed grimaces of pain. “Look I misjudged another contract,” he began to explain. “I thought it was going to bring in more than it did. You’ll ge- Ah,” he was interrupted as her foot put more pressure on him. “You’ll get your money later.”

She got off of him, allowing him to slowly get up in an awkward silence. When he was on his feet, shoving his forcefully to the decaying wall behind them. Again their faces were close. “I. Want. My. Caps. Now.” Valerie-Robin told him, emphasizing each word.

“I don’t have them,” Rodney reminded her. “What part of that don’t you understand.”

“Oh, I do understand. I just don’t care for your excuses.” She brought her hand to her side, touching her gun lightly. Sometimes you need to do things the hard way she thought to herself. Out of her holster, she pressed it on his thigh. “You’re gonna get me the money now.”

He let out a nerves gulp at the gun, only to scoff at her words. “How am I supposed to do that if I don’t have it?” She pushed the front of the gun into him, cocking it. He cocked an eyebrow at her. “Your bluff doesn’t scare me,” he told her with a sardonic tone.

And then the gun went off.

That was when she finally let go of him, allowing him to fall while screaming in agony. With his hand gripping his now bleeding thigh, he looked up at her, letting out a groan. “What the hell was that for you bitch?”

She continued to point the gun at him, smirking at the position he was now in. “For playing me as if I were some wandering merchant,” she explained. Dropping down to his level, she used her free hand to pull on his chin, making them look eye to eye. Again, she pressed the gun into his other thigh. “You’re gonna have my caps by the time I return tomorrow, okay? Unless you want your other leg to be home to one of my bullets,” she said with a mixture of a joking and serious tone.

With one final look, she stood up, unable to hear what he was muttering. She left the crumbling building without another word, stepping into the cold outside. Clutching her leather jacket to her body, she felt a shiver go down her spine, she saw her breath in the air. All she wanted to do was sleep, yet where she had no idea? She hadn’t thought that far ahead.

“Hey Val,” a familiar voice filled her ears. “Are you okay? I heard a gunshot.” He put his hand on her shoulder, causing her to crank her neck over giving him a cold hard stare.

“I’m fine Butch,” she told him, shoving his hand off. Walking past him, she took the lead going god knows where.

“You had blood on you,” he commented. It was soft, almost as if he didn’t want to be heard. However, she did. Yet she didn’t look back at him, she only continued walking.

“It’s not mine.”

A few thoughts ran through his mind on what had happened, unsure if to speak or not. Slowly she was coming off her anger high, bringing her back into reality. With all the shit that’s happened to her, she learned to developed a high tolerance level for almost anything. Still, sometimes little things would be too much for her, causing her to snap so to speak. She bottled everything inside, all her emotions and thoughts, and was slowly and agonizingly waiting for the day she would explode.

In a way it was like she prayed for death, given how to puts herself in certain situations where she could easily die, but that was a discussion never to have.

He moved next to her, matching her pace. “Did you kill him?” he asked, continuing looking into the distance. The sun was gone completely and the moon was starting to rise, stars plagued the sky.

She shook her head. “I only shot him in the leg.”

He accepted her words, not replying. What else could he say? By the way she sounded, she wasn’t exactly proud about what she did, though not really upset either. Just indifferent. There was no point in saying anything else, so instead they continued to walk in silence, going wherever Valerie’s feet led them.

~~~

A few more hours had passed before the two decided just to set up a makeshift camp inside one of the many abandoned buildings. Supplies of food, bullets, and stimpaks were left around in a few unlocked cases, showing that this was once home to raiders. However, further investigation into the building showed they weren’t going to be a threat.

They were long dead before they arrived.

Now they were sitting around a small fire, thanks to Butch’s lighter and a few flammable things Valerie found, in one of the back storage rooms. As he cooked the food, she kept to herself, staring into the wall blankly. She lightly tapped her fingers against her thigh, not saying a word since they decided on this room.

Once the food was done he put it on two plates they had found, scooting over to hand her hers. She looked over at him, her eyes showing nothing, and took it only to place it down beside her. He moved back a bit to start eating his, yet still kept his eyes on her.

In a way it was a sad sight to see. That girl had lost just about everything in her life. Her mom, her freedom, her safety. The day she left Vault 101 for the first time was hectic, chaotic even, but he’ll always be thankful that after the way he treated her, she still saved his mom.

If that were to happen today, he couldn’t be sure if he could get the same result.

Still, she went out into a world she didn’t know to find her dad. And then he died right before her eyes. He couldn’t even imagine what that would be like, because when his mom was in trouble Valerie helped him. Yet one thing he did know was that struck a change in her, whether for better or for worse he couldn’t tell.

You need to be able to do almost anything to survive in the Wasteland. That’s something he’s learned during his short time out here. Yet it’s not the only thing you have to know, but still it’s the most important.

“What?” she said, bringing him back into reality. “Why do you keep staring at me?”

“You haven’t touched your food,” he told her. It was exactly a lie, it was true in fact, but that wasn’t the reason and she knew. With complete disbelief, she continued to stare at him wanting him to tell the truth. He sighed. “Do you wanna talk about what happened back there?”

She rolled her eyes, bringing her gaze back to the wall. Silent for a moment, she began to think. Should she talk to him? Yes. Does she want to? Not exactly. She let out a hefty sigh. “Rodney didn’t have the caps he owed me,” she admitted. “You know, for finding all those old books and maps for him.”

“Oh,” he said, scooting closer to her again. “Did he say why?”

“Apparently one of his other contracts fell through. He said it didn’t bring in as much as he thought, but I don’t believe him for a second.”

"Why’s that?”

A scoff escaped her lips as he finally looked over at him. “Rodney isn’t exactly the honest type. Everything he does is for personal gain. It wouldn’t surprise me if he just didn’t wanna pay me and keep the money for himself.”

“So you shot him as a warning?” he concluded, which she nodded. “Does it bother you that you did that?” With that she looked down, resting her cheek in her hand.

“I let my anger get the best of me,” she admitted. “Usually I can subdue it but recently…” she trailed off, never finishing her thought. “I just know better.”

Again he put his hand on her shoulder, and this time she didn’t push it away. “You gotta do what you gotta do in this world,” he told her. “Maybe shooting him was a little extreme yea, but you needed to get your point across.”

Bringing her fact back to his, a few tears had rolled down her cheeks. “It’s not Rodney I’m angry about,” she explained. “It’s me.” He cocked an eyebrow at the comment, somewhat confused. “I shouldn’t shoot everyone who pisses me off, even if I’m living in the Wasteland. I can’t imagine what…” again she trailed off, bringing her crying gaze back to the wall.

“Imagine what?” He removed his hand from her shoulder, yet still kept his eyes on her. “Please, just tell me.”

Without looking over at him, she spoke through her sobs. “I can’t begin to image what my dad thinks of me. I mean, I know he’s gone, but still. He’s looking down at me and thinking what an awful human being I’ve become. What a disappointment I am now.”

With a complete look of disbelief, he tested his luck and put his arm around her, pulling her closer. She let him, but still somewhat kept to herself. “Val, he would never think that way of you,” he told her. “Just in our time knowing him in the vault, I could easily tell he loved you and nothing could ever change that.”

It was then when she pushed him away, annoyed at his words. “Don’t bring up the fucking vault, I never wanna think about that place ever again.”

Shocked, he looked down for a moment, trying to figure out why. The easy answer was the night both her and her dad left, having the parents of children she knew trying to kill her, but deep down he knew it was something more. And then it hit him like a ton of bricks.

The revisit only two months ago.

He never did know exactly what happened, just that Amata became the Overseer and both he and her left again, though taking different directions. It was only a short while later did they reunited and decided to travel together, seeing as two guns was better than one. He never once asked why she stormed away, mainly because it was none of his business. But now Butch wanted to know, only so Valerie-Robin could get it off her chest.

“What happened before you left the second time?” he asked, unsure if he was going to get an answer. She took a few moments to regain herself before speaking, bringing her red, irritated eyes to him.

“You know how I was able to get Amata’s dad to step down as Overseer? And gave the positon to her?” He nodded. “That’s all she wanted me for, she just used me. After all those years we spent together, everything she’s done for me and everything I’ve done for her, she just kicked me out without a second thought. It seemed so unlike her, so unlike the Amata I called my best friend.”

He wrapped his arm around her again, pulling her close in a side hug. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “Did she at least give a reason why?”

She scoffed at his question, though it wasn’t directed at him per se. “She said I wasn’t exactly welcomed, that I made the others feel uneasy. Like I didn’t already fucking know that.” She rolled her eyes, continuing. “Apparently, I had already made myself a life out here and that it should stay that way.” Another tear fell down her face. “She didn’t even care that my father died, she just gave me a shitty ‘I’m sorry,’ and told me that she had to choose what was best for the vault. Me staying isn’t on that list.”

More tears fell down her red face, and he pulled her closer so she could cry into his shoulder. He didn’t know what else to say other than he was sorry that that happened to her, anything else he just couldn’t’ find the words for. After she pulled away and rubbed her eye, she spoke again.

"And the worst part is when I heard that distress call, I’m not gonna lie I was a little happy. I thought after all the shit I went through; I could finally go home again. I was happy for the first time since my dad died. I was an idiot for thinking my life could go back to normal.” She wiped her nose and brought her eyes to the ground, saying her final words of this story. “Now I have no one.”

He lightly grabbed her face and forced her to look at him. “That’s not true,” he told her. “You have me.” The words brought a small smile to her upset face, and with that he removed his hands. “I know we were never exactly the best of friends, hell I treated you like utter shit, but that’s all in the past. Now that we’re out here in this unknown world, all that doesn’t matter. We have each other, and I’ll be damn sure that never changes. I promise you, okay?”

Valerie-Robin wiped her eyes one final time before embracing Butch in a hug. In his ear, she whispered a thank you. Thank you for listening to me vent. Thank you for reassuring me that my parents are still proud of me. Thank you for sticking by my side no matter what I did.

Thank you for everything.


End file.
